/*
* Copyright 2002-2006 the original author or authors.
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
package org.springframework.beans.factory.xml;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
/**
* Interface used by the
* {@link org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader} to
* handle custom, top-level (directly under <code><beans></code>) tags.
*
* <p>Implementations are free to turn the metadata in the custom tag into as many
* {@link BeanDefinition BeanDefinitions} as required.
*
* <p>The parser locates a {@link BeanDefinitionParser} from the associated
* {@link NamespaceHandler} for the namespace in which the custom tag resides.
*
* @author Rob Harrop
* @since 2.0
* @see NamespaceHandler
* @see org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionDecorator
* @see AbstractBeanDefinitionParser
*/
public interface BeanDefinitionParser {
/**
* Parse the specified {@link Element} and register the resulting
* {@link BeanDefinition BeanDefinition(s)} with the
* {@link org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext#getRegistry()} BeanDefinitionRegistry}
* embedded in the supplied {@link ParserContext}.
* <p>Implementations must return the primary {@link BeanDefinition} that results
* from the parse if they will ever be used in a nested fashion (for example as
* an inner tag in a <code><property/></code> tag). Implementations may return
* <code>null</code> if they will <strong>not</strong> be used in a nested fashion.
* @param element the element that is to be parsed into one or more {@link BeanDefinition BeanDefinitions}
* @param parserContext the object encapsulating the current state of the parsing process;
* provides access to a {@link org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionRegistry}
* @return the primary {@link BeanDefinition}
*/
BeanDefinition parse(Element element, ParserContext parserContext);
}
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